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IBA to share human-rights expertise with Ukraine

The International Bar Association (IBA) has signed a co-operation agreement with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO).

They two organisations say that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is aimed at ensuring “accountability for war crimes and other international crimes – including the crime of aggression, genocide, and conflict-related sexual violence”.

The MoU has been signed by IBA President Sternford Moyo, IBA Executive Director Dr Mark Ellis, and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin

Push for ‘special tribunal’

It covers a number of areas for co-operation – including expert support, and access and use of photo and video files as potential evidence, collected through the mobile app EyeWitness to Atrocities.

The two bodies have also agreed to advocate the creation of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression to prosecute Russia’s political and military leadership.

The MoU also covers assistance to Ukraine’s task force on asset-freezing, and a pledge to undertake efforts to set up an international compensation mechanism for reparations for Ukraine.

‘Wealth of experience’

The PGO is co-ordinating efforts for the effective documentation of human-rights and humanitarian-law violations committed in the course of the conflict in Ukraine.

Kostin welcomed the IBA’s “specialised knowledge and wealth of experience, particularly in the fields of international humanitarian and criminal law”.

Moyo said that the IBA’s expertise would strengthen Ukraine in enhancing its administration of justice, and ensuring accountability for crimes against humanity.